Saturday, December 13, 2014

Here's my review of this cool USB charger I found on Amazon. It's a 3,300 mAh battery inside of a flashlight that can fully charge a cell phone (and have PLENTY of power leftover) as well as act as a VERY bright LED flashlight. It has two brightness levels and a strobe feature. Completely cool and fits in your pocket, purse, backpack, or glovebox. Perfect for travel! No need to sit at a Starbucks or Airport terminal tethered to a wall.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Luxury. Status. Quality.

Many want it, but few are prepared or even willing to really pay for it.

The appeal of the $5,000 second or third-hand BMW has a far and wide reach. The relative complexity and maintenance costs of these cars is a factor that drives down the entry cost for such cars many years after they've left the factory. What was once a $35,000+ car in its day, a used BMW E46 can be had a decade later for as little as $5,000. This puts this timeless and beautiful car--often regarded as one of the best BMWs ever made--dead center in the crosshairs of people who want the status, but who can't, or who aren't willing or able to fork the $45,000 of a brand new BMW 3-Series.

As an owner of one of these fine machines, I definitely understand the appeal of getting more for less. Why shell out up to $800 a month for a new BMW that has most of the features mine has all while weighing more and having relatively slower reflexes for performance-oriented driving? This no-brainer value is one of the reasons I bought mine.

These cars are so great that they have a large enthusiast following on internet message boards and car forums. These are communities chock full of E46 enthusiasts that discuss everything from maintenance, performance modifications, or even their beloved pet beagles. Among these daily discussions, however, are a steady stream of new and confused owners seeking for help on why their used german automobile is blowing steam or doesn't start, or a myriad of other potential problems. A common posting is, "HELP! I JUST BOUGHT A USED E46 AND IT WONT START. THIS CAR IS JUNK!" These new owners often expect their 100,000+ mile, 10-year old BMW to start and drive as reliably and nicely as a brand new one. They are almost always disappointed when they find out that this isn't the case.

The thing that these new owners sometimes fail to understand is that there will always be a cost to properly drive and operate a new or used german luxury car such as a BMW. For a BMW bought on the used car market, this cost goes beyond the price of admission. I've put together a rough list of parts that should be replaced upon purchase of a used BMW E46 3-Series. That link can be seen here. This list covers the basics that often fail leaving people stranded causing them to destroy their engines causing permanent damage or become stranded to cost them even more money on towing fees, etc., not to mention the danger of leaving a wife and children stranded.

A $5,000 car doesn't mean $5,000 maintenance. You cannot expect to drive a 10-year old, 100,000+ mile, once-$40,000 BMW off the lot and expect to look fancy and show up to parties with your newfound status symbol. These cars require real maintenance real fast! These are absolutely great cars if they are maintained and they will last you several lifetimes!

So if you bought a used E46 and you just got done reading this blog post, you wonder how much does it cost then?

About $3,000. This $3,000 in addition to the cost of your car will address the cooling, electrical, fuel, and vacuum systems as well as the basic components of the suspension. If your budget for a used E46 is $5,000, make sure you've saved $8,000 or close to it. If you spend $5,000 on your used E46 and just want to drive it and put gas in it, you will have problems rather quickly. At around 100,000 miles and 10 years is about when things are just about ready to die. From the plastic parts in the cooling system, to the pulleys and belts, to the fuel delivery systems, and the electrical systems. Luckily these parts can be had at fractions of the cost online versus your local BMW dealer.

Refresh these cars with $3,000 in parts every 80,000-100,000 miles or so and you'll never experience a problem in your lifetime.

Spend a little now, save a lot in the long run. A properly and decently refreshed used BMW 3-Series will cost anywhere between $8,000 and $13,000. Considering a reliable and well-handling BMW E46 is one third to one half the price of a brand new Toyota Corolla, that's a bargain of the century. And you won't be accused of being a poser!

Monday, October 27, 2014

This blog post is for you if you just purchased your E46 3-Series and/or have more than 75,000 miles on your current cooling system on your E46 3-Series BMW.

The BMW E46 3-Series is among certain BMW models that are known to to suffer from cooling-related failures, often times catastrophic due to warping the engine block.

The 6-cylinder in your E46 is a straight six design featuring an aluminum head and block. This design has inherent benefits for which BMW engines are known for. However this design also has inherent drawbacks. When overheated even for seconds, the long aluminum head on a BMW straight six is particularly vulnerable to warping. The fix is a risky and costly top end engine rebuild or a complete engine replacement. The cost is $3,500 and up.

When a BMW 3-Series overheats, the result is usually a blown headgasket causing coolant consumption, coolant/oil mixing, or an overpressure situation in the cooling system. Either way, the car will not run long during any of these three conditions. This happens to so many people on a daily basis but can easily be prevented with $500-750 worth of parts every 75,000 miles.

As such, it is absolutely imperative that you maintain your BMW E36/E46 3-Series cooling system.

If your temperature gauge does go into the red zone, shut off the car immediately and have it towed.

BMW E46 Complete Cooling System List 9-26-16

Mangos Engine including Rebuilt Cooling System

Appreciate your support over the years and using my links--I earn a small amount when you use them and it doesn't affect you at all. Much love!

Automatic Transmission Cooler O-Rings. (Highly recommended as the old ones tend to not seal the same) Order two of these for the transmission cooler.
OEM link to buy

Prices, information, and brands/prices/links subject to change. These are current as of 9-25-16The total cost for manual cars is around $500. For automatic cars, around $750 which includes the fan blade/clutch.

The failures:

How, why, and when do the failures typically occur?

Expansion Tank

The number one cause of cooling failure for the E46 3-Series is the expansion tank. This tank has a 100% failure rate and fails on every single E46, usually around or before 90,000 miles. This can be installed in your driveway in 45 minutes or less using simple hand tools. If you can change a light bulb, you can change your expansion tank.

Some fail sooner than that while some last longer. These tanks fail because of heat cycling of the plastic material they are made of. Typically the failure will make itself known when you see a yellow low coolant light on your gauge cluster. You will open the hood and the tank will look fine but what you don't see is the hairline crack that formed down the side of it, usually invisible to the naked eye. This crack expands under pressure and water spews out either while driving or when the car is parked. Come back to your E46 and there's a puddle under it? Yep that's your expansion take 9/10 times. If the water/coolant level becomes low enough, there will not be enough coolant for the water pump to circulate. No circulation means no flow through the engine/radiator. No flow through the radiator/engine means overheating and a $5,000 engine replacement and lost down time, towing fees, rental car fees, headaches, etc. Again, buy here. DO NOT BUY THIS AFTERMARKET IF OU CAN AVOID IT. GENUINE BMW ONLY. Genuine BMW is maybe $20 more but it's worth it. If you do not buy Genuine BMW, you may buy OEM which as of time of writing, is the brand CoolXpert.

If you just need the expansion tank cap, buy here. It's good to keep a spare cap or replace at 25,000 mile intervals because the seals on the cap are known to harden and lose their ability to seal, even between tank replacements. They're around $12 -- good investment.

Pulleys and belt(s) systems

Our M5X and S54 engines have three belt-driven tensioner pulleys. The role of the tensioner is either to provide belt-spacing/traction and to quell crankshaft vibrations due to irregular accelerations from the crankshaft. This is done to prolong the life of belt-driven accessories and likely to quiet engine operation.

When should you replace your pulleys?

If your pulleys are original: replace them.

If you don't know how old they are: replace them.

If they are noisy or have excess play: replace them.

If they have 60,000 or more miles: replace them.

This is a crude diagram of the front of an M5X engine:

The main belt drives the water pump, alternator, and power steering pump. This belt is guided by pulleys. These pulleys contain ball bearings and grease. After around 60k miles, this grease dries up and the pulleys are vulnerable to failure. The belts are then thrown off once this pulley fails and you now have no cooling system, no power steering, and no charging system.Your dashboard will light up like a christmas tree and your temp needle will fly into the red zone.

Belts. Obviously the belts themselves can fail causing an otherwise brand new cooling system to not operate. Replace every 35k miles. You can find it here.

This belt system is no joke. E46s are prone to pulley failure. I've seen it time and time again. Is your E46 squealing and whistling? Replace your pulleys. They're cheap and very easy to replace.

The water pump is another potential failure point but admittedly not as common. It can fail in at least three ways. 1) The impellar itself will break and cannot continue to push water. 2) The seal may leak and, 3) The bearings will fail causing the shaft to wobble and break which will in turn throw the belts off effectively rendering your cooling system useless.

You might hear nightmares of water pumps with plastic impellars, but don't pay attention to this. Replace your water pump due to age and/or mileage, not because what its made out of. The latest BMW water pump design (at least 10-15 years old) features a plastic composite impellar. BMW did once try metal impellars but quickly phased those out due to premature balancing and bearing failures. Design is more important than physical materials. Some people insist on installing the Stewart water pump. Some recent reports suggest that these are low-volume production items and may fail prematurely. Others report success. It's up to you. If you insist on the Stewart water pump, it can be found here.

You'll need to remove the fan on your automatic E46 to access the water pump. I recommend this fan clutch tool here: http://amzn.to/2dWyHTU

Thermostat

Generally fails in the open position leading to a "cold" temperature needle on your gauge not allowing the car to warm up, this item can leak as well or worse yet, fail closed or partially closed. It's a good idea to replace it. Thermostat can be found here.

Radiator

The E46 radiator is typically robust, but the end tank seals are rubber and harden over time. You'll notice staining or slight weeping. The radiator has thin passages which can become clogged with sediments as well and may cause water to flow slowly to where it needs to go. This may cause problems in traffic or while stopped. The plastic end tanks may also fail but this isn't that common of a failure mode for this part. They are cheap enough to replace anyway and is one of the most vital cooling parts--arguably the most important one. Don't skimp on this. Manual Trans unit here and Auto Trans unit here.

Fan blade and clutch

(for automatic transmission equipped vehicles).

Another failure point. If the blade chips or deteriorates, there goes its balance and will explode in your engine bay. There goes your belts, hoses, hood and whatever else it feels like taking out. The fan clutch is typically robust, but is good practice to replace it anyway. It controls the speed of the fan. You don't want it spinning too slowly or too quickly. A fan that cannot blow sufficient air over the radiator will fail to cool the water/coolant and thus the car will overheat. This typically happens when the car is stopped in traffic, say at a red light.

BONUS - WHY IS YOUR E46 OVERHEATING?

Written specifically by Mango

In order for your car to not overheat, these basic requirements have to be met:

1) Cooling system must be filled to capacity. That is to say the system must have no leaks and no air bubbles or pockets in it. Car must have correct amount of coolant/water.

2) Water must be able to be driven without any unnatural hindrance. That is to say the water pump must be able to push water throughout the system without added blockages or weakened drive force due to a damaged water pump or slipping/missing belt. The thermostat should also be opening and closing as designed.

3) Air must pass over the radiator in sufficient quantity at the correct moment. That is to say your mechanical and/or electrical-driven fans must be operating correctly when triggered by properly working sensors.

If your car is overheating, at least one of the above is not being met or you have bigger problems with the headgasket (unlikely if you've never overheated before)

If your car is overheating at idle (say in traffic) and you are sure that 1) you have adequate water in the system and 2) said water is air pocket/bubble free, then air is failing to blow over the radiator. You need to investigate why. Either the fan(s) aren't operating properly (not blowing air or enough air) or your fan switch isn't telling the fan to turn on. (or both) Or you have debris between your radiator and condenser. Time to break out the a toothbrush and garden hose. Remember you must have proper coolant/water flow and proper air flow!! You need both.

COOLING SYSTEM INSTALL TIPS:Bleeding the system: (VERY IMPORTANT-DANGER DO NOT SKIP!!)

This step is extremely important. No amount of brand new cooling parts in the world will work if you do not bleed the system properly. The point of bleeding is to remove air bubbles/pockets. The cooling system is most efficient when it is circulating only fluid. Heat cannot radiate away from the surface of the radiator if there's air pockets. You are essentially reducing the size of your radiator significantly if you have air pockets running through it.

Here is the official procedure per BMW TIS:

Here is a quick cheat sheet on how to bleed the BMW E46 Cooling System:

Raise front of car on ramps (Not necessary, but recommended)

CAUTION: ONLY DO THIS WHEN CAR IS COOL AND ENGINE IS OFF. At no point should the engine be turned on.

4) Begin to fill your expansion tank with ideally a 50/50 mix of Genuine BMW coolant and distilled water (do not use anything else--no reason to. The proper stuff is cheap) The system might take a while to swallow the water. Massage the hoses if you think it will help. Keep pouring. Water will begin to pour out of the bleed screw hole with air bubbles. The point is to keep filling and filling until the bubbles are gone. This may take a while--be patient.

5) Once you are satisfied that a continual stream of bubble-free water is emerging from the bleed hole and that your cooling system is adequately filled, go ahead and replace the bleed screw (do not overtighten). The expansion tank will be full to the top at this point so you'll need to siphon off any excess so that the appropriate tank level can be achieved.

Congratulations! Your E46 is now ready for another 75k miles of trouble-free driving. Never will you have to worry about being stranded with your wife, girlfriend, pets or kids in the car. Never will you have to worry about posting a thread asking why your car is overheating or why your engine is stained with coolant. Never again will you have to worry. (at least for another 75k miles) :thumbsup: The mileage is just a guide. Your results may vary.

Happy motoring
-Mango

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